A Fateful Meeting
by A Reviewing Reader
Summary: "What was that for?" he whispered. "For just being you," she murmured. He smiled, his icy blue eyes shining with happiness. Then, he pressed his lips to hers once more.  My entry to 99angelkitty's Jerina challenge!


My entry to 99angelkitty's Jerina/Jenina challenge! This was hard for me to write because I am not a Jerina writer, since I honestly don't think they interact that much in the show. So, this is all in Nina's POV and in the future after high school. It may be a bit rushed and a few characters may be OOC, sorry about that. ): The necessary words are **bolded**, and flashbacks are in _italics_.

There is a spoiler about Mara dating Jerome, but even the Wikipedia or IMDB page of House of Anubis said they were supposed to get together sometime in the show, so it's not really a spoiler. But just in case no one knew... Sorry for spoiling it.

Oh, and I deleted this for a while, but it's back up now, as you can see. Just wanted to let you guys know in case you had tried reading it before.

Now onto the story!

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><p>"Meet you at noon?" he asked.<p>

"Yeah, sure," Nina replied.

"Great. See you," he said. He hung up the phone, and the dial tone rang in her ear. Nina placed the phone back in its holder, realizing that it was happening. She lifted the phone again, dialing another number, and waited until her best friend's voice sounded.

"Hey Nina, what's up?" Mara Jaffray's, voice was cheery.

"Er, nothing much. What about you?" Nina asked.

"Well, I just learned that someone's **spinal cord** had been damaged by a bad fall and now he's paralyzed from the waist down. It's really quite a tragedy-with me being a doctor and all it's hard to see patients suffer like that-"

"I'm going on a date with Jerome," Nina blurted out.

"What?" Mara's voice was surprised. "I didn't know you two had seen each other. Let alone talked-it's been ages."

"It was kind of just a sudden thing. When Fabian and I broke up-"

"You broke up?" Mara exclaimed, **flabbergasted**.

"Y-Yeah. It just wasn't working out, and we both knew it. But we're still close friends, don't worry." Nina continued, "So I was sitting in a diner, just eating lunch alone, when I see him walk in. And he looked exactly like Jerome, just a bit taller and older."

As Nina told her what happened, the memory came back to her. There she had been sitting, eating a stale chicken and fries dinner that just tasted like sandpaper to her mouth. Nina had finished her meal and asked the waitress for coffee, and that's when he walked in.

_His blonde hair windblown from the storm going on outside, a scarf wrapped tightly around his neck. He had gone straight to the counter and sat down, asking for a cup of gray tea. That just confirmed that he was who I thought he was._

_I left my purse in the booth and walked up to him. I tapped him on the shoulder and he turned around. Yep, I had been right about who he was._

_"Are you Jerome Clarke?" I asked._

_"Ye- Nina?" His blue eyes widened._

_"What are you doing here?" I said._

_"I-I'm visiting Poppy, she lives here with her fiancé. What are you doing here?" he asked._

_"I live here," I replied, raising an eyebrow. "Here, let's sit down."_

_I pulled him by the wrist from the stool with his cup of tea in my hand and sat him down across from me. It took me a moment to let go of his wrist, and when I did, he glanced up at me. I met his eyes for a second before looking away._

_"So how long are you in town?"_

_"Just a week or two," he said, running his fingertip around the rim of his cup. "How are you and Fabian going?"_

_"Oh, we're fine," I said. "Actually, we broke up."_

_"I'm sorry," he said, giving my hand a reassuring squeeze. He hesitated before pulling away his hand._

_"What about you and Patricia?" I said, shrugging off his apology, not wanting to think about my still-conflicted feelings about Fabian._

_"We broke up, too. She got together with someone else, but I didn't stick around long enough to ask," Jerome said, looking to the side and sounding very distracted._

_"Let's go to a different topic. Do you want a piece of cake?" I asked._

_He gave me a sly smile. "Quite the random change of subject, eh? Well, sure. Why not?"_

_"Miss," I said, waving over the waitress. She smiled and took our orders of two pieces of chocolate cake._

_When the cake arrived, Jerome eyed it suspiciously. "How do I know that you didn't poison it?"_

_"Why would I?" Nina asked._

_"To maybe, steal my sister from me and take away my pet fish, Swimmy?"_

_Nina laughed, almost spewing her coffee in his face. "No, no. Don't worry. Here, I'll try it first to prove that it's __**non-toxic**__."_

_She scooped a bite into her mouth, chewed it thoughtfully, and swallowed. "See? It's fine. Now eat up."_

_After sitting in that diner booth and chatting with so many laughs, the storm finally cleared enough that I would be able to survive the weather if I went out there. Jerome looked at his watch and said he had to go see Poppy before it got too late._

_"Wait," I said. "C-Can I call you?"_

_He smirked teasingly, his eyes glinting mischievously. "No, Nina. I don't want to talk to you after all of these years," he said. He slid out of the booth and pressed a slip of paper in my hand._

_I glanced at the number, memorizing it by heart, then sighed with a smile on my face._

"Wow, he hasn't changed much," Mara mused to herself.

"Oh right, I remember you dated him when we were in school together," Nina replied.

"When is it?"

"Er." Nina bit her lip. "Actually, it's tonight."

Mara sighed through the phone, and Nina knew she was shaking her head at her friend's time management skills. It was true, Nina had a tendency to have last-minute plans. "Do you want me to come over and help you get ready?" Mara asked.

"Yes, please!"

. . .

"You look amazing, Nina," Mara said, fluffing the American girl's hair once more.

"I can't believe my hair is so dark now," Nina muttered, looking at her light brown hair.* "It used to be dirty blonde, but now it's so brown." She frowned as she tilted her head this way and that to look at her hair in different lights. But no matter which way she looked, it stayed a golden brown.

"Oh please, Nina. If you're hair's ugly, I'm Queen Elizabeth's long-lost daughter," Mara scoffed with an eye roll. They both burst out laughing.

"That makes me feel better, thanks," Nina said. She stood up, looked at her outfit again.

A simple blue peasant blouse with black jeans and black stilettos. She added her usual neutral makeup and just a few simple, sparkling accessories that would make her old friend, Amber, proud. All in all, it was the perfect attire for a casual date between an old housemate.

"Are you okay with me dating your ex?" Nina asked, glancing at Mara.

"It's fine, Nina. Don't worry, I'm with Mick now. Me and Jerome are fine," Mara assured her.

"Okay, I'm ready," Nina said. She grabbed her purse and threw a swift "goodbye" to her friend, then raced out to the street below her apartment. She hailed a taxi, asking the driver to head to a movie theatre nearby for her and Jerome's date.

She met Jerome at the front of the theatre, but he looked more dressed for an outdoor date than anything else. And he was carrying a picnic basket.

"Are we going somewhere else?" she asked.

"I thought you would like something more . . . outdoors-y, instead of being stuck in a stuffy, old theatre watching a drab movie," he said.

"Sure, I love surprises. Let's go," Nina said. "And-thanks for taking me out today. I really need it after the break-up."

"Nina, we all need a relaxing day after a break-up. I'm happy to help," he said.

She secretly slipped her hand into his, and he squeezed it in reply. She raised her eyes to meet his, and he smiled down at her.

They walked over to the nearby park, and selected a spot to sit underneath a large, shady tree. He laid down the picnic blanket while Nina began to unpack the picnic basket's contents.

The two sat on the blanket, beginning to eat their food. Unconsciously, Nina began to feed him small snacks like pieces of cheese on toothpicks. He took them without complaint, smiling with every bite while Nina laughed as she fed him.

When they finished, it was still light out, meaning Nina had plenty of time until she needed to get home. She rested her head against his chest, while Jerome leaned against the bench. He wrapped his arms loosely around her waist, and Nina noticed, but didn't say anything. She was actually relaxed, for the first time in a long while.

He began to play with her hair, twirling it this way and that, while Nina closed her eyes and dozed off. She was awakened when Jerome placed a kiss on her head.

Nina groaned and sat up, stretching her arms in front of her. Jeez, she was stiff. How long was she asleep? Seeing that the sun was reaching the western horizon and painting the sky a light orange and pink, she had probably been asleep for an hour or two.

"You know, you're really pretty when you sleep," Jerome told her.

Nina blushed. "You watched me sleep?"

"Well, you were laying on me," he retorted.

"Oh, right," she said, blushing even more. Jerome put her hand over hers, and Nina twined her fingers through his. "Do you think we're soul mates?"

His brow furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean?"

She bit her lip, looking away. "I-I mean, we never talked in school. And when we did, we would never get along, we would usually fight." She glanced down at their clasped hands. "And now . . . I mean, look at this. We're getting along as if we've been dating for years."

"We'll, then yes. I suppose we are soul mates. Do you mind?" he asked.

"No. Not really. I actually kind of like it," she replied.

Suddenly, Nina put a hand to his cheek and kissed him full on the lips. When they pulled away, he looked confused but not entirely mad that she had kissed her. He touched her hand that still lay on his cheek.

"What was that for?" he whispered.

"For just being you," she murmured.

He smiled, his icy blue eyes shining with happiness. Then, he pressed his lips to hers once more.

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><p>*: I say light brown because in almost every scene, Nina's hair is a lot darker than last season, so I just wanted to make sure no one was confused about me saying "dirty blonde hair" in my other fics vs. now when I say "light brown hair."<p>

And that was about 1,600 words, which is pretty good, considering I thought this was not my best work. I thought it would be shorter, honestly. But it's not, so I hope you enjoyed!

~Ary


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